THE LAURIUM MINES DISPUTE.

Colonist, Volume XVI, Issue 1603, 31 January 1873, Page 4

THE LAURIUM MINES DISPUTE.

A GREAT deal of notice has been taken respecting this dispute in late English telegrams. According to the French and Italian version (says the Dunedin Star), it ia a, case of sheer illiberal jealousy on the part of Greece, The lutter S!»ys that, the French and Italians have acciimnlalei capital of from £20,000,000 to £40,000,0000ut o» a mining establishment in which they originally invested sums not exceeding £435, only purchased mine* which were by no means unsuspected or unknown. They had, however, been forsaken as exhausted and unproductive for centuries, and the native would in all probability have trodden for ever over the scoria and debris, without even dreaming that he had what might amount to hie King's and his Kingdom's ransom under his feet. The foreign speculators, MM. Roux and Serpieri, who bought the old mines as mere waste ground, had to satisfy, first, the demands of the local authorities; then, the claims of the Central Government; and, lastly, had again and again to compound with the brigund chiefs who constitute a State within the State. But, when they were allowed to work in peace, they used their advantages to such good purpose that in less than the nine years corresponding with King George's reign, they had given employment to thousands of native and foreign workmen, attracted an extensive trade to what was once an uninhabited spot, constructed roads, tramways, and even a railway, und, in short, brought that solitary and barren district to a degree of prosperity with which the other provinces of ihe kingdom were hardly familiar. The people and Government of Greece could not, however, resign themsolvei to the (act that where they had thought, that "nothing conld be made out ot nothing," strangers should have been able to accumulate a capital J,ar?a enough, as they thought, to cover the whole publio debt of the more than half-bankrupt kingdom, The thing *m a«rt to, bo borue* th,Qusait» vm m \, w^ ■*

how it could be mended. No flaw could be found in the strangers' contract., nor could it be denied that i what enriched them had turned out equally to the benefit of a large number of the native population and of the Government itself As the lamb could easily disprove the charge which the wolf brought against himself he was easily convicted of the offence imputed to his father before be was born. As the strangers were amenable to no existing law, a new law was voted, to which a retroactive force was given. By this enactment all the scoria and debris of old mines were claimod as State property, and, on that pretext, the Laurium Mines Company were taxed to the amount of £80,000 as arrears duo for the eight years since they began work —that is, eight ycara before the law was made. The company, unable to resist the extortion, offered to sell their property to the Government for £60,000. The offer was accepted, but when the oontracfc hud to bo brought before the Chamber for approval, it was found that the Greek Represent a 1 ives would never buy, evou at so low a price, what they valued so very highly, but what they apparently fancied they could Beize without payment; and the matter was thus left in abeyance, the company protesting against the£Bo,ooo tax, and the Government equally refusing either to release the company or to redeem the property'on the terms agreed upon. The matter is one which any Court of Law or Equity ought to be able easily to settle. But the two States which stand up for the interests of the Company —France and Italy—are unwilling to allow the matter to be brought before the Greek tribunals, urging, very reasonably, that, after the wild agitation to which the difference has given rise in the country—repeatedly even leading to Ministerial crises—the affair must be considered to have assurred a political character. On the other hand, the Government of King George, for their part, will not consent to international arbitration in a case so decidedly, in their opinion, lying within the exclusive competence in their own Courts of Law.